Culture as sculpture

This department is expected to initiate and promote cultural activities in the state.

This department is expected to initiate and promote cultural activities in the state. But for the year 2008-09,the Uttar Pradesh Department of Culture became the department of sculpture,as 90 per cent of its budget was allocated only for making sculptures of great people.

According to official sources,the department,which has already spent Rs 90 crore,is all set to receive a whopping Rs 200 crore more for the purpose in the next financial year.

Apart from getting statues constructed of Bhimrao Ambedkar,Chhatrapati Shahu ji Maharaj,Chief Minister Mayawati,BSP founder Kanshi Ram,Jyoti Ba Phule and Ramabai Ambedkar,the department is also shelling out Rs 60 lakh each to get some 130 stone elephants constructed for the Ambedkar Memorial and the Kanshi Ram Memorial.

This is only the second time the department has got such a huge budget,most of it devoted to sculpture making. While out of the total budget approval of Rs 83 crore,the department had already spent Rs 73 crore for statues,till the end of last year,money allotted under heads like organising cultural programmes,pension to old artistes and organising programmes and trainings in rural areas remained unused or wasnt used at all.

Secretary and Director of the department Gajendra Pal claimed money had been spent as per needs. Under whatever head the need arose,we made the expenditure. There are three more months to go for the financial year to end and we are sure to use up all our budget, said Pal.

One area where the department seems to have felt the need repeatedly was in busts of Mayawati herself. In the past year,it has installed and unveiled her own statues at five different locations along a 15-kilometre stretch in Lucknow,which also includes an older statue in Prerna Kendra.

She has explained that she had to do so to respect the wishes of BSP founder Kanshi Ram he had apparently said he wanted a statue of Maya to keep all his own likenesses company. All the six statues are made of bronze and according to official records each one costs between Rs 40 and 50 lakh. The figures are faithful to the BSP chiefs sartorial preferences. Each statue depicts her in the same salwar-kurta-dupatta ensemble,with the same pair of sandals.